To commemorate WBGO’s 35th anniversary year, we are teaming up with Blue Note Records at the close of their 75th anniversary year to present the only East Coast appearance of the supergroup, Our Point of View. With a limited number of engagements in Monterey, Paris, London and New York City, the December 12, 2014 performance in support of WBGO will be the only opportunity for fans in the jazz capital to experience this historic group.

Created in honor of Blue Note’s anniversary, Our Point of View celebrates the vitality of the label by looking ahead and bringing together the leading young artists on the Blue Note roster who steadfastly continue to move jazz forward. Featuring keyboardist Robert Glasper, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, guitarist Lionel Loueke, saxophonist Marcus Strickland, and bassist Derrick Hodge with drummer Kendrick Scott, the band’s repertoire draws from each of these artists’ own remarkable catalogs as well new spins on Blue Note classics.

The creative young voices of jazz have been the lifeblood of Blue Note Records since its formation in 1939—from Thelonious Monk and Herbie Hancock, to Freddie Hubbard and Joe Henderson—all of whom made their debut albums for the legendary label. Since WBGO’s inception in 1979, the station has been at the forefront of many brilliant jazz careers, including the members of this group, each of whom has performed in WBGO’s studio in Newark.

Our Point of View

December 12, 2014 ι Le Poisson Rouge

In 2009, WBGO launched an innovative program entitled, The Checkout, which brought each of these musicians into our Newark studios to perform as band leaders and discuss their music. Two years later, veteran record producer and musician Don Was joined Blue Note as Chief Creative Officer and soon became its president, renewing its dedication to the original label vision, articulated by Blue Note founder Alfred Lion that “any particular style of playing which represents an authentic way of musical feeling is genuine expression.”

August 3, 2011. Posted by Brandy Wood.

92YTribeca and WBGO present The Checkout: Live from 92YTribeca, a new series created by Joshua Jackson, host of WBGO's hour-long music magazine The Checkout and an unparalleled enthusiast for modern expressions in jazz.

Curated by Jackson in conjunction with 92YTribeca, The Checkout Live convenes some of the most exciting and innovative players on the NYC scene for monthly concerts that are broadcast live, as well as recorded for future broadcast and podcast. Join us for the city's hottest new jazz showcase, a living and breathing celebration of the present and future of the music.

This month's installment takes place Tuesday, August 9th at 8 p.m. and features The Eric Harland Voyager Quintet and The Marcus Strickland Quartet.

Eric Du'sean Harland, composer and drummer, is a native of Houston, Texas who was discovered by Wynton Marsalis during a workshop in high school. Since then, Eric has gone on to record and perform with countless jazz greats including McCoy Tyner, Terence Blanchard, Kenny Garrett, Ravi Coltrane, the late, great Betty Carter, Joe Henderson, Charles Lloyd, Joshua Redman, Wynton Marsalis, and John Patitucci to name a few. In ‘DownBeat's, 65th Annual Readers Poll', Eric made it on the short list of world recognized drummers along with Elvin Jones and Roy Haynes.

"Marcus Strickland has started to turn heads in the most thriving but most competitive jazz scene on the planet ...his tone: liquid and luminous, yet forceful and exact." -Thomas Conrad (JazzTimes Magazine)

Saxophonist Marcus Strickland was named 'Rising Star on Tenor Saxophone' in Downbeat Magazine's Critic's Poll '10, 'Rising Star on Soprano Saxophone' in Downbeat Magazine's Critic's Poll '08 and 'Best New Artist' in JazzTimes Magazine's Reader's Poll '06, he also placed third in the 2002 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition. He has toured internationally with his own Trio/ Quartet and the bands of Dave Douglas Keystone, Jeff "Tain" Watts, Roy Haynes, making Strickland a household name among the world's renowned jazz saxophonists. His latest recording, Triumph of the Heavy, Vol. 1 & 2, is expected to be released by summer 2011.